Kulasai Dasara : The Festival of Rural Culture

Kulasai Dasara(Dussehra) is a cult rural festival celebrated during the famous Dussehra festival time in the 300 years old Sri Mutharamman Temple or Kulasai Mutharamman Temple located in the small town Kulasekharapatnam, near Thiruchendur in Thoothukudi District of Tamil Nadu. The name Kulasekharapatnam is derived from Pandyan ruler Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I. and is also referred to in Marco Polo’s travel diaries dating to 1250 AD.  The festival continues for ten days with the start of Navaratri and finishes on the tenth day, ie on Dussehra in the celebration of killing the demon called Magisasuran.

The mythological epic tells the story of the town dwellers who once approached their Goddess being helpless to the torture of the cruel mighty demon Magisasuran. Then a baby child took birth with the power of the Goddess and was named Lalithambigai. The baby grew up into a full-grown adult through a supernatural power in just 9 days, which are considered the days of Navaratri. On the 10th day, she got herself converted into the almighty symbol of power as Annai Parasakthi Lalithambigai with the razing desire of eliminating evil from the earth. And thus she came strongly on Magisasuran and destroyed him as the symbol of the sin of evils on this day which in turn is being started to be celebrated as Dasara(Dussehra) here.

The history of Kulasai Dasara dates back to several centuries ago. According to the legend, the goddess Sri Bhagavathi Amman appeared in the dreams of a local king named Raja Veedhi Veerapandiyan. The goddess instructed the king to build a temple in her honor and to celebrate a grand festival in her honor every year. The king followed the goddess’s instructions and built a temple for Sri Bhagavathi Amman in Kulasai village. The temple was constructed in the traditional South Indian style, and it became a popular pilgrimage site for devotees of the goddess.

The first Kulasai Dasara festival was celebrated in the 18th century, and it has been celebrated every year since then. The festival begins with the hoisting of the festival flag, which symbolizes the beginning of the festival. The festival lasts for ten days, and each day is marked by various rituals and ceremonies. But the most prominent days of the festival are the last 4 days.

On these days, since morning, one can see performers to get ready in different attires to enact different characters from mythology. Seeing them getting painted in colours ranging from black to blue to white to yellow so as to match different gods and goddesses is an eye-catching scenario for the photo enthusiasts. Capturing them in the process of behind the scene is an opportunity not to miss to complete the entire series. Once the preparation done, performers start performing various activities and rituals with the rhythm of drums and bugle in front of the village people and subsequently reach the village temple. Vibrant, colourful and dramatic events of ritual performance are enacted with utmost devotion before they retire. These programs are different for different villages in terms of colour, makeup and idol personification. Instead of sticking to a single place, one can roam around different villages to create for himself different photographic opportunities.

Once they are done in their own village, they finally reach the Mutharaman temple to show their devotion to the main deity. Hundreds of groups from different villages in different get ups throng to the temple every day. Being in front of the temple premises is a better option to cover most diversified and distinctive events and rituals especially as a photographer. The gathering reaches to the maximum as the final day approaches. On the ninth day or Navami, the devotees follow the chariot of the main deity to the sea shore and perform the various rituals to dedicate to the goddess. This event is a much desired phenomenon for the photographers as they can find the opportunity to capture the performers taking deep into the water with their attires on. In many places fires are lit up and smokes spiral out to convert the atmosphere like a burning cemetery. Same atmosphere is replicated in the next day too, but in a much bigger way. For being it the last and main day of the festival, Dussehra, the crowd becomes unfathomable. All the performers from more than hundreds of villages reach the sea shore with entire makeup and attires on. They perform different rituals amidst huge fire and billowing smoke before the main event of Dussehra performance start. The presence of millions of devotees and performers clubbed with fire, smoke and ear deafening drumbeats converts the entire atmosphere eerie and enigmatic. The program goes on till midnight before the devotees take a holy deep into the sea and retire.

Though this is just a highlight of Kulasai Dasara from a photographer’s viewpoint, there is much more to see, feel and capture about this festival. If you want to see and know more about Kulasai Dasara, Join me this summer and freeze the enchanting beauty of this century old festival of rituals in your camera. Click here for more details!